Preview: Ole Miss looks to regain its form against Valparaiso
OXFORD, Miss. — Following a week off, Ole Miss men’s basketball takes to the court at home today at 2:00 p.m, looking to regain its form. The Rebels needed the time to re-set, re-charge, and gather themselves after suffering back-to-back losses after having started the year on a five-game win streak. Today’s contest gives the team the perfect opportunity to find its footing with Valparaiso coming to town.
The Rebels enter the game at 6-2 after last Saturday’s 68-57 loss at Memphis. The added time off allowed for head coach Kermit Davis to get his team healthy and into shape.
In the Memphis game, Ole Miss was without starter Jayveous McKinnis who had started four of the seven games this season, while Daeshun Ruffin saw limited action in his first game back of the 2022 campaign following injury. In 2021-22, Ruffin accounted for 12.6 points per game (PPG).
NET Rankings
With the recently released NCAA NET rankings, we find Ole Miss in a position where the Rebs can look to lock up these “buy games” as they bolster their non-conference resume.
(A “buy game” occurs when power conference schools pay schools from the mid or low-major level for a home game with no return game as part of the agreement.)
As of Friday, Ole Miss sits 67th in the rankings and 1-2 in Q1 games. Those games include a win over No. 11 Florida Atlantic (Yes – that FAU) and losses to No. 49 Oklahoma and No. 48 Memphis. Buy games like today’s against Valpo (ranked No. 282) may not do a ton to boost one’s ranking but are imperative to keeping your ranking relevant.
That being said, let’s take a look at what to keep an eye on before Ole Miss and Valpo tip off.
Game Preview
Valpo Scouting Report
The Beacons enter Saturday with a 4-6 record and, as mentioned earlier, a NET Rating of 282. Head coach Matt Lotich has been in charge since 2016 and helped usher in the change from the Horizon League to the Missouri Valley conference.
Notable wins for Valpo this season include Incarnate Word and James Madison.
While this fits the buy game mold, there are always players to watch out for. In Valpo’s case, it comes in the form of one of the better one-two punches in mid-major basketball: the duo of Ben Krikke and Kobe King.
The duo combines for 37.5 points per game and just under 10.0 rebounds. Digging a little deeper into Synergy Sports Techonologies, we see that Krikke and King account for 48.1% of the usage in Matt Lotich’s offense. The two also account for 53.3% of the scoring for Valpo this season.
As well as those two, keep an eye out for Quentin Green. He is their main perimeter threat with 23 made threes so far, at a 34.8% clip.
KOBE KING
A former Wisconsin transfer, King has bumped his scoring total up a notch this season. This year, he is second on the Valpo roster at 17.5 PPG. When it comes to his game, King largely operates the PNR where his counterpart (Krikke) will be the screener. On offense, he operates it on 23% of his possessions.
King is also no stranger to starting the break as he likes to get Valpo out and running where they are arguably at their best. Memphis’ ability to score in transition and get fast break points and points off of turnovers was one of the best in the nation and they showed it against Ole Miss last Saturday.
Let’s see if Ole Miss continues to push for the offensive rebounds or if the Rebels get back more in defense. Lastly, King likes to get in the post, himself. He does it on over 12% of possessions and is highly effective operating out of the left block. He scores on 58% of his shots down low.
BEN KRIKKE
The senior big man, Krikke, has been one more of the efficient players in all of college basketball. On the year, he leads Valpo in scoring at 20.5 PPG and rebounding with 6.5 RPG.
Krikke ranks in the 87th percentile in all of college basketball players in scoring. He boasts a 55.6 FG% and a 56.5 EFG%. Coach Lotich uses him more as a traditional big.
On 28.9% of possessions, Krikke will post up — and nearly half of those will be on the right block. If he isn’t posting us, look for him to be involved with King as a screener who will then pop out for a jumper. He pops on nearly 60% of those possessions.
Ole Miss Lineup Changes
As every team who experiences the fun of the portal does, the Rebels have been no stranger to running different lineups to see what gels and what doesn’t. Coach Davis has arguably his deepest roster since coming to Oxford and has multiple games where he’s gone eleven to twelve players deep.
The return of Daeshun Ruffin creates another situation for Davis to navigate as he looks to distribute minutes, something every coach goes through when there’s a lot of deserving players — but only so many minutes to go around.
One particular lineup we might expect is one that includes both Ruffin and true freshman Amaree Abram. It becomes reminiscent of the situation that many expected last year with Ruffin and Jarkel Joiner. Unfortunately, injuries derailed that plan as the duo only got a couple of games to share the court together all situation.
Abram fits the mold of a combo guard, and the question comes as to whether we will see him operate off-ball? Davis certainly seems to think so.
“It can sure happen tomorrow night. I think Moe has to be more comfortable at the two. I said to our guys if you get a lineup of Daeshun, Amaree, and Matt, I mean the toughness of having to rebound the ball in these games… But it sure does give us some fast guys in transition that can shoot and playmake.“
Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis
It was a tough return to action for Ruffin last Saturday as he is still working to get integrated into everything this year.
“When he played against Memphis…(he had) maybe one day, couple days of non-contact. That’s a pretty tough environment for not playing, practicing very much at all. We kinda threw him right in the fire and 14 minutes was about what we wanted…. Tomorrow (Saturday) he will be on kind of a minute thing. We’ll have to really talk about that today based on practice. He’s had some really good practices and he’s been a part of those and so it’s good for him to have three or four days of practice.“
Coach Davis on Daeshun Ruffin’s return
In the Memphis game, Josh Mballa saw the most minutes so far of his young Ole Miss career. He logged 15 minutes in the contest, and it was the first time he notched double-digit minutes since the Florida Atlantic game.
Davis praised Mballa’s effort, so it will be interesting to see if this translates to more time on the court.
I thought Josh Mballa, kind of settled in and played much better the last seven or eight minutes [Memphis game] and he’s practiced that way.
Coach Davis on Josh Mballa
That was then, this is now
Valparaiso may still leave a sour taste in the mouths of some of our more seasoned-fans after Bryce Drew’s infamous 1998 buzzer beater that knocked Ole Miss out of the NCAA tournament. However, Ole Miss has opened as a heavy favorite (-17.5) for today’s matchup that is slated for 2:00 PM on SEC Network.
Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk as we have coverage of all things Ole Miss. Be sure to check out our website for more basketball content, women’s basketball content, and all kinds of other great articles.
TJ Oxley
TJ Oxley is the Vice President of Operations and the Director of Community Relations for The Rebel Walk. He is also the Director of Basketball Content and Senior Basketball Writer. He has over five years of experience providing in-depth analysis of college basketball through multiple platforms. A former MBA graduate of Ole Miss, TJ started with The Rebel Walk in 2019.
